MACMILLAN Narrating Injustice Survival: Self-medication by Victims of Crime (Palgrave Studies in Victims and Victimology)

This book explores the role of self-medication in reflexive response to victimhood and victim recovery. Based on interviews, counsellor focus groups and a self-medication survey, it situates self-medication among the coping strategies that may be set in formal and informal networks. Victims primarily seek validation, and this book reviews self-medication with particular focus on how victim-survivors develop a variety of reflexive responses in their attempt to carve out a dignified response to victimization. Validation may be achieved through the pursuit of justice, but many victims suffer from multiple or complex victimisation, with limited social chances necessary to achieve a just outcome. Routines, beliefs and an ordered pathway distinguish a dignified identity and more or less successful recovery adaptations. This book also addresses the practical implications of the findings for support organisations.  Review “This book covers an important topic that is often overlooked in victimology and criminology, self-medication by crime victims. It is vital that we better understand this phenomenon and how it impacts lives, in order to better assist victims as they try to cope with the consequences of criminal victimization. Drug and alcohol addiction is an important part of the process that links victimization with offending behavior that serves to remind us that victims and offenders are not always two separate groups.” (Jo-Anne Wemmers, Ph.D, Professor of Criminology, University of Montreal, Canada) From the Back Cover This book explores the role of self-medication in reflexive response to victimhood and victim recovery. Based on interviews, counsellor focus groups and a self-medication survey, it situates self-medication among the coping strategies that may be set in formal and informal networks. Victims primarily seek validation, and this book reviews self-medication with particular focus on how victim-survivors develop a variety of reflexive responses in their attempt to carve out a dignified response to victimization. Validation may be achieved through the pursuit of justice, but many victims suffer from multiple or complex victimisation, with limited social chances necessary to achieve a just outcome. Routines, beliefs and an ordered pathway distinguish a dignified identity and more or less successful recovery adaptations. This book also addresses the practical implications of the findings for support organisations.  About the Author Willem de Lint is Professor in Criminal Justice at Flinders Law School of Flinders University. He is the author or editor of books and articles on public order, introductory criminology, transnational criminology, policing and security studies. He is on several journal editorial boards and has provided expert advice to governments in Canada and Australia on policing and security. Willem teaches or has taught in criminal justice, including victimology, policing, penology and theories of criminology. Recent projects include a study on counter-terrorism prosecutions, blended justice in inter-agency collaborations and public order policing. Current projects include a study on victim self-medication. Marinella Marmo is Associate Professor in Criminal Justice at Flinders University Law School. Marinella researches in the areas of international criminal justice and transnational crime. Currently, she works in the area of victimhood, migration, and human mobility. She has co-authored the books Crime, Justice and Human Rights (with Leanne Weber, Elaine Fishwick, Palgrave) and Race, Gender and the Body in British Migration Control (with Evan Smith, Palgrave) and co-edited the book Crime and Justice – A Guide to Criminology (with Willem de Lint and Darren Palmer, Thomson Reuters) and Criminal Justice in International Society (with Willem de Lint and Nerida Chazal, Routledge). Her research has been widely cited in numerous newspapers, inc